Yearly Archives: 2012

America / Culture / Economy / Gov. Officials / Healthcare / Other / Politics / Presidency / Regulation / Tax

“Right of Conscience” Amendment: Blatant Misrepresentation of Constitution, Republicanism

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The US Senate, today, March 1st, plans to vote on a Republican-sponsored amendment that would restore “the right of conscience” to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare). The Senate’s bill, which would hope to reverse the Sebelius/Obama Contraception regulation without any actual reference to ‘contraception’ or the regulation they hope to reverse. … Continue reading →

Economy / Fiscal policy / Politics / Tax

The “Millionaire’s Tax” and the need for more serious reform

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By Will Portman Yesterday I attended a panel entitled “A Millionaire’s Tax and the Economy” at the Center for American Progress. One of the panelists, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), discussed his bill, the Paying a Fair Share Act, which would mandate that individuals earning above $2 million a year pay at least 30 percent federal … Continue reading →

Economy

Economic Daily Outlook

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THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 ECONOMICS: OPINION: Republicans and Fiscal Responsibility (Simon Johnson) http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/republicans-and-fiscal-responsibility/ The United States has a great deal of public debt outstanding – and a future trajectory that is sobering (see this recent presentation by Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office). Yet the four remaining contenders for the Republican nomination are competing … Continue reading →

America / Gov. Officials / Politics

Olympia Snowe’s decision may be more important than last night’s GOP primary results

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On Tuesday, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) announced that she will not seek re-election this November, citing dissatisfaction with the current partisan nature of the Senate. While Wednesday’s headlines will be dominated by the battle between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum for the GOP nomination, I believe that Snowe’s decision deserves more attention than it probably … Continue reading →

Economy

Economic Daily Outlook

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012   ECONOMICS: Housing prices fell in December, continue to hurt economic recovery http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/housing-prices-fell-in-december-continue-to-hurt-economic-recovery/2012/02/28/gIQAwnK3gR_story.html The nation’s home prices have fallen to their lowest level since 2002, according to a private report, casting a troubling shadow over what has otherwise been a brightening economic recovery. Although analysts have been nervously eyeing rising oil … Continue reading →

Economy / Energy / Regulation / U.S. Domestic Policy

EPA Budget Hearing: More Theatrics than the Academy Awards

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The Oscars happened Sunday. I say the event “happened” as the actual event was quite underwhelming, with a group of artists patting each other on the back at artistically expressing the views they saw pertinent, while the true underlying issues of society were poked, joked, and unfocused. Very similarly, representative members of the Energy and … Continue reading →

CFTC / Events / Regulation / Uncategorized

CFTC Amending the Dodd-Frank Act

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Opening Statements Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Gary Gensler began what would be an almost four-hour hearing on several rules that may be applied to the Dodd-Frank Act. Declaring that the hearing was about promoting transparency, developing internal business conduct rules, and compliance rules to protect the public, he seemed very … Continue reading →

Economy

Economic Daily Outlook

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2012   ECONOMICS: Tax experts think deal could be done on corporate code overhaul this year http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/212911-tax-experts-think-deal-could-be-done-on-corporate-code Despite what appear to be long odds, a handful of Washington tax experts think Congress and the Obama administration could actually make real progress on corporate tax reform this year. These optimists — who admittedly … Continue reading →

Foreign Policy

Is Colombia coming closer to the end of a long road to peace?

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Sunday, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) declared that they will stop the practice of kidnapping for financial gain. This announcement is a milestone, not just because of Colombia’s past reputation as the kidnapping capital of the world, but also because of the profitability of this practice for the FARC-EP. Kidnapping, … Continue reading →